A study carried out by Biguer, Jeannerod and Prablanc (1982) found that although the movements of the eyes preceded head and arm movements, the electromypgraphic (EMG) activity of both the neck and arm muscles actually preceded the eye movements. Therefore, eye movements do not necessarily have to precede hand movements but they do so nevertheless. If this is the case, what are the possible advantages that this organisation provides for the production of accurate hand movements…

My research aims to explore this issue in relation to children with coordination difficulties (Developmental Coordination Disorder – DCD). It is well established that vision tends to dominate other sensory modalities in the control of movement and in motor learning therefore impaired visual processing would be expected to lead to problems in motor coordination. Whether the relationship is a causal one cannot be established from the results of the studies so far. From planning to action involves a series of steps and the studies on children with DCD so far have tended to focus either on the action or the planning side of things, leaving a gap of research in between. Studies on eye-hand coordination show that aimed limb movements depend critically on information obtained from the eyes. Surprisingly, no studies have looked at the use of gaze in children with DCD. Perhaps children with DCD do not use gaze appropriately or do not learn to coordinate their eye and limb movements in the same manner as children without the disorder, resulting in poor development of motor control. This area of research, which I intend to pursue for my PhD topic, could bridge the gap between the action and planning problem that faces current DCD research.